June 25 (Reuters) - BlackBerry raised its annual revenue forecast on Thursday, betting on continued momentum for its QNX division following the completion of its turnaround efforts, sending its U.S.-listed shares up around 8% in premarket trading.

Once a powerhouse in the smartphone industry, BlackBerry has shifted its focus towards software for connected devices and self-driving vehicles over the past several years.

BlackBerry's QNX division, which provides secure real-time operating systems for mission-critical embedded systems most notably in the automotive sector, has maintained its strong growth trajectory, with revenue surging nearly 26% to $72.3 million during the first quarter ending May 31.

QNX has a backlog of almost $1 billion in future royalties.

"We see more of our QNX customers are leaning into next-generation software defined vehicles. They're working with us closely to deploy our platform across the board to help them meet those needs, so we actually see really healthy demand," CEO John Giamatteo told Reuters. 

BlackBerry now expects full-year 2027 revenue of between $594 million and $621 million, above its earlier projection of between $584 million and $611 million.

It forecast annual QNX revenue of $295 million to $312 million, compared with its previous range of $290 million to $307 million.

BlackBerry's secure communications division, which encompasses encrypted voice, messaging and critical event management solutions, reported a 24% rise in revenue to $73.6 million.

A vast majority of the secure communications business is government, and a significant portion of the pipeline is also government, CFO Tim Foote said.

The company posted total revenue of $152.9 million for the first quarter, up 26% from the same period a year earlier.

(Reporting by Juby Babu in Mexico City; Editing by Anil D'Silva)